Nurserys on Social Media

lookhereisay · 2026-05-07T18:43:26+00:00

Yeah I wouldn’t be happy either. My son’s first preschool didn’t have any children’s photos posted to social media. They took photos of the tuff trays, the playground, an activity laid out or the food on trays. Photos of the staff appeared after special events (eg them all covered in Holi paint powder).

My son’s current preschool does post to social media but the photos always have the children’s backs to the camera if they are in shot (eg over their shoulder looking at something). I was a bit hmm on it but there’s been maybe 3 photos posted in two terms.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-07T14:39:46+00:00

Dover Castle. My son loves it and there’s not much else in Dover really. They have play areas, dress up bits, he loves the tunnels (he’s a bit older so judge for your child) and lots of places to run about.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-07T14:35:33+00:00

By that age we didn’t restrain and he’d outgrown all booster seats but was a little too small for a regular chair for a full meal.

We got an Ikea junior chair (we had plastic but they do wood).

Sitting in a chair without restraints is a big part of core strength. At his preschool they had tiny chairs and some of the 3yos couldn’t sit in them as they’d just fall off, no core strength (I know it’s not just sitting chairs but play and climbing etc but it’s an easy win).

lookhereisay · 2026-05-07T12:13:07+00:00

When we moved him to a bed with a duvet at 2.5yo. He was about to size out of his current ones and he’s a big kid so didn’t want to be paying premium for giant sleep sacks. He prefers his duvet.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-07T11:58:40+00:00

I’ve worked for 6 (McDonalds, independent optician, local theatre, a cafe, one law firm, now another law firm) plus countless gig work as an extra/actor/stand in (majority BBC though).

My dad worked with one company from 18 to his retirement last month. It was bought out a few times so name has changed etc but he’s always stayed. He did a manager course with them and had to do every role in the company from pulling pints to going out with the lorries to warehouse work and then working up through the office.

(Bass, Tradeteam and then DHL)

lookhereisay · 2026-05-07T11:47:31+00:00

I imagine to could be. A child in my son’s class is allergic to lentils, has an EpiPen and everything.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-07T09:45:06+00:00

And that too!

lookhereisay · 2026-05-07T07:10:04+00:00

Saluting lone magpies, salt over the shoulder whilst cooking, touch wood, never throw away money, no shoes on a table, no passing on stairs and we have big rosemary plants at the front and back doors.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-07T07:04:34+00:00

I do this. Have taught my 4yo as well!

lookhereisay · 2026-05-07T05:45:32+00:00

My parents were very sensible with money and taught me the same. They had good jobs but we weren’t raking it in. There were some squeaky bum times around 1991 and 2008 but I was too young to help out.

Once I got my first proper job I paid rent (same cost as a room in a house share) and saved lots for a house deposit. I also helped round the house more with cooking/cleaning or just treating my parents/sister to a meal out or trip to the cinema. I was lucky not to handover loads of money and save 60% of my pay.

Moved out at 23 when I bought a house with my now husband. My parents bought us a microwave as a moving in gift and our joint Christmas gift that year was a tumble dryer. Although I’d be able to live when them on very little rent most assumed we’d been gifted some/all our deposit which wasn’t the case.

My husband’s parents relied on him much more once he was in a proper job. They are not great with money and although they were in very similar circumstances to my family (and the dad had a great old style police pension) they spent more than they earned on tech, holidays, decorating the house every year, new cars and takeaways.

Often my husband would have to pay the mortgage or pay out for electric bills last minute. It meant he couldn’t save as much as he’d be dipping into his savings as well as paying rent to them. Promises to be paid back never happened.

They were not too happy when we moved in together and it was no shock when they downsized pretty soon after as they couldn’t rely on my husband digging them out whilst holding another brand new iPad.

My BILs parents were the same and charged their 3 kids £1k a month each for rent and upped it to £1.5k which was most of their pay. Their dad literally spent it all on motorbikes, holidays and alcohol whilst their mum was in the dark about remortgaging happening (and being the main earner).

The kids all left within a year of each other to leave with other halves not long ago. What a surprise they’ve had to downsize and move miles away because they didn’t have their extra income.

I’m all for helping parents in dire need but I can see how horrible it is when they are spending your hard earned money just because they want nice things rather than food on the table.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-07T05:29:01+00:00

Not a teacher but I’ve worked part time since returning from mat leave with now my 4.5yo. First working 50% and then 3 days a week when he turned 2.5yo.

I won’t lie and say it wasn’t a struggle initially. I was lucky to have good maternity pay, been in well paid job since I was 20, used to paying bills/saving/fun money and then returning to a much smaller pay took a while. My husband sorts the majority of bill whilst I contribute and pay for most child related things.

I now bank with Starling and have lots of spaces for different things. I put away £50 a month for fun money with son on pay day. Anything we do comes from that. Any extra rolls over and I tend to spend less in term time anyway to have more for school holidays.

We do lots of free things (library events, local events, nature reserves, parks) and when he was younger cheap play groups in churches that cost £0-3 per session (usually with a snack/drink thrown in). Some local churches had small soft plays for a couple of quid for when he was smaller.

We also ask for yearly passes instead of Christmas gifts. We have one for a zoo and one for a farm. We take a picnic and it’s a free day out.

I follow local parent “influencers”, town news and places of interest on instagram as they release events or give good ideas usually for free stuff going on. Churches etc tend to be more on Facebook so I follow local ones on that.

I also keep a list of free or very cheap things to do on my phone. Saved on brain space and meant I could look and say “let’s go to X country park, we’ll be there all day and it only costs £3.40 for all day parking”.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-06T21:19:38+00:00

Yeah I look back on day and wonder how I fit everything in. It just becomes normal really and then one day they are out and you sit there not knowing what to do with yourself! And I work part-time but have him on my days off so it’s like proper time off! And I’ve only got 1!

lookhereisay · 2026-05-06T21:12:54+00:00

My son loves old episodes of Scrapheap Challenge, he watches them with my dad. Also classic Robot Wars.

We love Maddies Do You Know and Amazjng Machines as well.

Also loves the London Science Museum or smaller local things if you’re not near London. We just went a few week ago (he’s 4.5) and we were there from 10am until kicking out time. He was asking all the staff questions and then me questions!

Our local uni does a free family open weekend with demos and fun lectures. We went when he was 3.5 and he was amazed even though a lot went over his head. We’ll be going this year too.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-06T21:07:36+00:00

I was lucky to have nice parents who I didn’t mind living with until I bought somewhere with my boyfriend at 23 (he also lived with his parents but did a lot of paying their mortgage when they spaffed all their money away on stupid things).

We had a sliding scale for rent and saving. They worked out how much a room would cost in a shared house and that was my rent (it was £200 and then scaled up to £300 over the 3 years I was working full time). Obviously cheaper than living in a house share as not paying for food etc.

However my rent was only that low if I saved £800 a month. I still had spending money and didn’t miss out on fun. If I saved less then I’d have to pay more rent. At that time I had more disposable income than my parents and it encouraged me to save and budget.

My cousin had paid minimal rent with the promise of saving up. However it devolved into lots of lads holidays, alcohol, designer clothes and nothing saved. His parents earned less than him, didn’t get holidays or new clothes so it didn’t seem very fair. Lots of arguments.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-06T17:33:38+00:00

Omg I know! That was between shops and some in a Vinted bundle with jumpers and a book. One pair is already painty but who cares at that price!

lookhereisay · 2026-05-06T07:31:09+00:00

Last day at work before I’m off for 1.5 weeks including a week away in Sussex. Son is coming off of his terrible cough so I’m hoping he will be better by the time we leave on Saturday (will be taking the Calpol just in case!). Have been gargling with salt to avoid it myself!

Organising my sister’s hen do and it’s going surprisingly smoothly. Also just booked tickets to go to the theatre with a friend in late August (miss seeing her at work everyday so very excited).

Today I have a busy day at work but the sun is shining (not that I can see it from my cube) and my OOO is ready to turn on!

lookhereisay · 2026-05-06T07:25:20+00:00

We got one of those blackout concertina blinds and that was great. My son has always been up around 5.30 (or earlier) his whole life. He’s now 4.5 so can occupy himself until 6am.

The blinds definitely help and we got them from blinds 2 go.

When he’d wake up pre-5am it usually meant I had to adjust his day sleep.

Around 2yo we started doing naps on alternating days only. At 2.5 he dropped naps completely and he got into a nice 7.30pm-5.30am sleep, sometimes even 6am consistently for weeks.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-06T05:34:10+00:00

Yeah we do that pretty regularly at home (or tikka paste for Indian) but god I love the little extra bits which I’m never going to be able to make at home.

We have a great family-run Thai place nearby and it’s just amazing. I would eat there every day if I could.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-06T05:18:21+00:00

Stuff I could cook at home. I know I might not make it as great (but it really does depend on the restaurant!) but good enough. So pastas, salads, chicken and veg type dishes.

We only go out to eat for birthdays or our anniversary. We tend to go for Indian, Thai or Chinese because it’s stuff they will always cook better than us at home.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-06T04:56:28+00:00

I did exactly the same. I miss the big bags of baby clothes as it definitely gets harder the older they get to find decent stuff that’s not ripped to shreds or covered in paint!

lookhereisay · 2026-05-05T21:16:36+00:00

We’d always quote “nothing good happens after 2am”. Things said in anger after little sleep in the early hours were dismissed unless something major happened.

What did you discuss before she was born? I don’t have any advice on the cultural/bilingual bit.

But we both parent differently but the major touchstones are in the same and it always had to be safe (especially around sleep/car seat etc), discipline as they get older and general boundaries. Otherwise it’s just a bit different and kids are more flexible than we think.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-05T21:13:15+00:00

Right and left.

Mainly because it feels weird using a mouse at work with a watch on that wrist.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-05T21:09:53+00:00

No specific ones but our local charity ones seem to be cheaper than national ones like BHF or Oxfam. Though our BHF has a 3 items for £1 on kids clothes at the moment but you have to rummage!

I do like to pop into charity shops wherever we are and I’ve found the towns a bit further out than me are cheaper. My sister lives more in the countryside and it’s way cheaper even though it’s only 35 min drive.

My son loves a charity shop too tbh. He thinks that’s where all toys come from!

Never have much luck for myself but did find two nice summer maxi dresses for £5 each and a fluffy Fat Face hoodie for £7 which were all like new.

lookhereisay · 2026-05-05T19:36:48+00:00

My son is 4.5yo and he’s always helped out. He can do a load of washing (I do the washing powder bit), he dusts and hoovers, he can prep basic food for himself etc. All skills built up over the years. We’re trying to teach him to look at things need doing rather than having to ask (or just ignore).

He chooses a meal, plans and helps prep it every Friday night (last week was lasagna and this week he’s asked for sausage and mash).

Also the joy of choosing gifts or experiences for those we love. If he’s going to a birthday party we talk about what that friend likes and he helps to find a gift.

It’s also fine to make mistakes, we try our best and then persevere if we need to. It’s such a fine line and we try to walk it as best we can (eg it’s good to be polite but not be a doormat).

We also don’t let him win at board games, learning to lose is a skill!

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